Ball Skills

Does a Football Chaplain need ball skills?

I've been asked a few questions about being a Sports Chaplain, but never that one.  Yet only last week I was in action with the ball yet again.  And when the ball comes to me I must, of course, make a judgement as to what move to do next, whether on the training field or, as Saturday, during a game.

Could it be that in these straightened times Chaplains are being drafted to make up the numbers?  Well no.  The ball skill I refer to is the equivalent of those demonstrated by the pet dog with the stick - the skill to catch or fetch.  Whether standing by the training field or watching, say, the youth team play there are times when in the absence of a ball boy there is a Chaplain!

The Chaplain-cum-Ballboy must do his retrieval without fuss, equipping the right player with the ball so that the player can use his abilities in the real contest.  Notwithstanding the video above, I help but do not score the goals!

In this respect, a Football Club Chaplain is very much like a Church Pastor.  As a Pastor I return the ball of ministry every time I close a meeting or complete a visit because it is the congregation who spend most of their time in the centre of the challenge in the everyday world.